Month: March 2009

We read with great amusement the post on Tech Crunch concerning California’s proposal to regulate the color of cars its population can own.

Its bad enough California population is over taxed and over regulated. Now the state government is proposing to control the colors of cars with regs starting in 2012 and fully being implemented by 2016.

Career Builder Job Openings Drop 9.35%Nationwide in Last 45 Days
44 States Decrease, Only 6 States IncreaseCalifornia Worst State for Declines, North Dakota up 28.08%

Best and Worst States.com, the leading site for facts and lists about States, released analysis today on job opening data using Careerbuilder job openings as a proxy for job activity. Career Builder is the nations largest job posting site. Nationwide job openingsdropped 9.35% to 213,077 from 235,059 during the 45 day period starting on January 29, 2009 and ending on March 14, 2009. Job openings are those that have been posted within the last 30 days.

44 States showed decreases in job openings in the last 45 days while only 6 showed increase. The biggest job opening decline was in California. Job openings declined to 21,723 on March 14th from 25,855 on January 29, 2009, a decline of 4,132 job openings. California unemployment was recently announced at 10.1%, the 4th worst in the nation. California, the nations most populous state, also has the most job openings in the country yet the number is quite low compared to the size of the population. Typically job openings are a leading indicator of future employment.

All large employment states showed job opening declines including New York, Illinois, Texas and Florida. Illinois showed the largest decline in percentage terms at -20.99%. Illinois unemployment is currently at 7.9%, tied for 34th in the nation.

States that showed increases were typically small states with low unemployment. The total number of increases was also small. North Dakota showed the largest percentage increase in job openings at 28.08% yet it only increased by 123 job openings. North Dakota’s unemployment was only 4.2% in January, the 2nd lowest in the nation. Alaska increased by 20.75% and had the largest state job opening increase at 167. Alaska unemployment is at 7.9%, tied for 34th in the nation. Other states showing increases were South Dakota with an increase of 62, Maine with 13, Utah with 29 and Iowa with 27. Wyoming, the state with the lowest unemployment, also showed a slight increase of job openings with just 10. It also has the fewest job openings in the nation on career builder.

Edward M. Kopko, Editor of Best and Worst States, said, “ Job Openings have dropped quite quickly since President Obama has taken office. The unemployment rate is unlikely to improve until job openings start to increase. The trend clearly indicates increased unemployment.”

BestandWorstStates.com, is the leading site for facts and lists about states. Ed Kopko, its editor, during his career has written and developed extensive research on business matters and employment. The site develops and publishes data about a number of issues important to people. Topics include state tax policy, social issues, jobs, lifestyle and matters that help citizens be more knowledgeable about the states they live. www.bestandworststates.com.

A “study” from the National Center of Family Homelessness was released this week and garnered national press. It reported that 1 out of every 50 children were homeless during the “study” period of 2005-2006. In addition it was reported over 1,500,000 children were homeless during the “study” period. The “study” also ranked the Best and Worst States.

We view the “data” as suspect and exaggerative.

The “study” defines homelessness in such a way that many quality families and successful parents’ children were determined to be homeless in 2005-2006. Let’s start with a few key parts of the definition of homelessness from the “study.”

Your children would be determined to be homeless if for just one day during the “study” period they were:

“• Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as doubled-up);
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative accommodations;”Source: The National Center of Family Homelessness

Let’s look at the example of an executive who gets a new job and sells his home in the state he used to work. If the family lives in an extended stay hotel in their new state while waiting to close on their new home, the children are determined to be homeless. Suspect data to me.

In addition, if a young couple lives with in-laws, which is highly common, the children can be determined to be homeless.

If your family lives in a trailer park, the children can be considered homeless according to the definition.

Of the 1,500,000 children that were determined “homeless” by the “study” here is the breakdown:

63% of “homeless” children are either staying with other families or living in hotels! Only 37% are in the other classifications. I would like to thank Tom Palmer for breaking this story. He makes some additional great points on his blog. www.tomgpalmer.com

The Worst State for Child Homelessness from the “study” is Texas. The Best State is Connecticut.

Unemployment increased in February to 8.1% nationwide. The labor department just released the latest state numbers for January.

Wyoming is the Best State for Jobs with unemployment of only 3.7%. NorthDakota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah are in the Top 5 Best States for Jobs.

The Worst State for Jobs is Michigan with its unemployment now at 11.6%. There are now 4 states in the U.S. that have unemployment rates above 10%. South Carolina, Rhode Island and California are the other 3 Worst States for Jobs with rates above 10%. North Carolina at 9.9% is also a Worst State for Jobs and will probably be above 10% next month.

The unemployment rate in states will be going up again when February is released as the national average has already increased and been released. We will keep you posted.

Connecticut is the Best State for Per Capita Income in 2008 with an average of $63,160. It is followed by Massachusetts, NewJersey, NewYork and Wyoming.

The Worst State for Income is Mississippi with an average income of $31,836. The next Worst States are West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky and South Carolina.

Higher income does not necessarily correlate to better lifestyle. Connecticut, for example, is the Worst State for Taxes with the highest tax burden in the country. Generally the highest income states have the highest tax burdens and higher cost of living index. See: Cost of Living by State

You could spend a lot more for the same house and have a lot less disposable income to enjoy life

State

Income Per Capita

Rank

Conn.

$63,160

1

Mass.

$56,661

2

N.J.

$56,116

3

N.Y.

$55,032

4

Wyo.

$53,163

5

Md.

$52,709

6

Nev.

$49,371

7

Wash.

$48,574

8

Colo.

$48,300

9

N.H.

$48,033

10

Calif.

$47,706

11

Va.

$47,666

12

Ill.

$46,693

13

Hawaii

$46,512

14

Fla.

$46,293

15

Minn.

$46,106

16

Del.

$44,889

17

Alaska

$44,872

18

R.I.

$44,463

19

Pa.

$43,796

20

Tex.

$42,796

21

Vt.

$42,626

22

Wis.

$40,953

23

Kans.

$40,784

24

Nebr.

$40,499

25

N.D.

$39,612

26

Ore.

$39,444

27

Mich.

$39,273

28

La.

$39,116

29

S.D.

$39,103

30

Ohio

$38,925

31

Iowa

$38,636

32

Okla.

$38,415

33

Maine

$38,309

34

Ariz.

$38,174

35

Tenn.

$38,090

36

Mo.

$38,084

37

Ga.

$37,850

38

N.C.

$37,508

39

Ind.

$37,279

40

Mont.

$36,793

41

Idaho

$36,492

42

Ala.

$36,372

43

N.M.

$36,031

44

Utah

$35,971

45

S.C.

$35,419

46

Ky.

$34,339

47

Ark.

$33,395

48

W.Va.

$32,145

49

Miss.

$31,836

50

U.S.

$44,254

–

D.C.

$70,730

–

Note: See table 38 for average people per household by state.

Source: Tax Foundation Special Report, No. 163, “State-Local Tax Burdens Dip as Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth.” The income measure used adds the following to Bureau of Economic Analysis’s personal income measure: capital gains realizations, pension and life insurance distributions, corporate income taxes paid, and taxes on production and imports less subsidies. It subtracts from personal income the fungible portion of Medicare and Medicaid, estimated Medicare benefits that are provided via supplementary contributions, initial contributions to pension income and life insurance from employers, and the annual investment income of life insurance carriers and pensions that is included in personal income.